Forever After
by shnazzybear19
Summary: What is the Hunger Games were to come back? This is my take on what happens after the books. Peeta and Katniss struggle to keep their life together. They have to fight the new presidents, and rebel. Again.
1. Chapter 1

**Hi everyone! Today's chapter is a little bit short but I already have plenty of chapters planned for the future. Please follow, favorite, and send me ideas!**

It's dark and stormy today. Completely unfit for hunting. But it's not like I still want to. Ever since the war, I've been a mess. I haven't showered in weeks, have barely eaten (and even then I didn't cook, Greasy Sae did), and haven't gotten outside to hunt in almost a year. Thanks to District 13. I'm lonely. There's no way I can deny it. Even with Greasy Sae and her granddaughter, and Buttercup coming back. I hate Buttercup. He just brings back memories of Prim.

I hear a knock on the door.

"Come in,"

"It's me," Greasy Sae says, and walks in the door,"I brought eggs,"

I don't reply.

"Katniss, will you help me make bacon?"

I still don't respond. Instead, I roll over on the couch and cry. I keep thinking of how I have no family here, Gale is gone, Mom, too. Prim is dead. And Peeta. I have no idea of what's going on with him. I hope he isn't staying in the Capitol. I need him.

I feel Sae's hand on my shoulder, "It's okay, we're all okay."

"But,"

"No 'but's." Sae says sternly, "Come on, let's get some food in you,"

I eat my eggs one tiny piece at a time. It takes me fifteen minutes to eat one egg.

"I have to get going. I'll be back at lunchtime." Greasy Sae walks out the door.

Great. Now I have to cry alone. Where no one can hear me.

 **I really hope you like the story so far. Again, please follow and favorite. Let me know what you think of the beginning!**


	2. Chapter 2

**This chapter should be a bit longer that the last one. It is from Peeta's point of view, so keep that in mind! Please review follow and favorite!**

"Look, Dr. I can't stay here. I want to go back home. You said I could go back a week after Katniss' trial, it's been at least a month."

"Peeta your treatment is almost done, just wait a couple more days. We can't have you going back too soon, it will be too dangerous for Katniss."

"That's stupid. You think I'm _going_ to attack her now? After I've been begging to see her for days?"

"It's still too risky." Dr. Aurelius explains.

"I don't care." I shout and storm out of the room, my prothetic leg making loud footsteps on the tile floor. I walk to my room, and flop myself down on the bed.

"I'm a painter, I'm a baker. I like to sleep with the windows open. I never take sugar in my tea and I always double-know my shoelaces,' I think to myself. I open the windows before I drift off to sleep.

I have a nightmare **where** Katniss is being attacked by a mutt from the first Hunger Games. But it's unlike any of them I've seen before. Blonde hair and blue eyes. It charges at her and she freezes, unable ti move out of the way. It rips out her throat, and chews her to bits. I sit up in bed, sweating. I try to figure out who the mutt represented. And then I know who.

Me.

I'm all of the sudden scared to go back to Katniss, fearing that is what I'll do to her. I sprint to Dr. Aurelius' office. Praying he is still there. I knock on the door.

"I thought I heard you. What's going on?" Dr. Aurelius greets me.

I tell him all about my dream, my reaction, and how it effected me.

"That isn't good. Your treatment was going so well."

"What will we have to do?" I ask desperatly.

"I don't know yet. Tell me every detail of the mutt."

"Well, it looked like me, with the hair and eyes and everything. And it had a build like mine. Just a second let me remember," I sit back in the chair.

Well I think I've said everything. But that's when the worst detail hit me.

"The mutt was smiling,"

 **I hope you liked this chapter! Please follow, favorite, and review!**


	3. Chapter 3

**I have to admit, this chapter is a little sad. The next couple chapters will be happy I promise! We are back to Katniss point of view today. I will try to post one chapter per day, but I have school, so don't worry if I don't post a chapter everyday, one will be posted soon! Please follow, favorite, and review. And please feel free to give me ideas for upcoming chapters!**

I finally get up from the couch without Greasy Sae commanding me to. I push my hair out if my face and find it greasy and matter into clumps. I don't bother washing it, it's not like anyone is coming to see me anymore.

I want to sleep in a normal bed so i manage to walk to the guest room, not bothering to walk all the way to my room. I curl up on the cushy matress and fall into a deep sleep.

I only have one long dream during my nap, but it's enough for my nightmare fulfillment.

I'm running through the woods, not knowing what I'm running from. I turn around and see fire. Not your normal run of the mill fire, but an explosion. I'm in the mines. The flames catch up to me and engulf my entire body. I watch my legs burn straight to the bone, but I don't die. One of the Capital airships they use to scoop your corpse out of the arena picks up my skeleton body. Once I am in the airship, i see someone coming to greet me. Peeta throws open the glass doors and yells my name. I don't recognize him one bit. His eyes are bloodshot, scars all over his face.

"Don't let them take you, Katniss!"

I turn around to see a troop of Peacekeepers. One opens his helmet, and I see President Snow's menacing face staring back at me.

"PEETA!" I scream sitting up in bed. Only he is no longer here to comfort me. The phone rings.

"Katniss, you finally pick up the phone I see!" Dr. Aurelius says enthusiastically. I immediatly slam down the phone.

"Peeta… where are you now?" I whisper to myself, lonely. But I won't admit it to myself that he would abandon me.

"Peeta," I whisper one last time before bursting into tears. I keep sobbing. Tears streaming down my face, snot coming out of my nose. All Incan think about are is beautiful blue eyes, his soft, blonde hair, his strong arms that used to comfort me when I was scared. I can't live without him anymore.

But I can't let anyone know that.

I go to the bathroom and dry my tears, wipe off my face a little, and splash cold water on my steaming face. I take one look at my hair and hate it, but who cares? All I need to do is make a simple phone call.

I call Dr. Aurelius.

"Where is Peeta?" I say as pleasently as I can.

"He is still here with us. He needs some more treatment. He should be coming home soon, but we are afraid that if he were to return to District 12 too soon he would go mutt and try to kill you again. We won't take that risk." he explains.

"I don't care."

"We do, we can't let him go at the moment."

"Do you want me to get better?"

"Of course."

"Then, send. Peeta. Home." I say through gritted teeth and slam down the phone.

 **I hope you liked this chapter. It isn't too sad. Please follow, favorite, and review as always!**


	4. Chapter 4

**I am sorry this chapter took a bit longer to write but I had so many ideas it was hard to separate them into more than one long chapter. I hope you like this chapter! It's when the story gets interesting :)!**

I take a bite into my grilled cheese and pull. Strands of the melted cheese fall down my chin.

"Wow, Greasy Sae. This is good."

"Thank you. Back when Panem was the United States, there was a district called Wisconsin that made really good cheese."

"You make it sound like you were there." I chuckle. This is the happiest I've been in days. I don't know why. I just have a feeling something good will happen soon. Like everything will become clear.

"I wasn't, but I read about it. It has to beat our cheese."

I laugh again.

"I have to leave and look after my granddaughter." Greasy Sae says.

"Goodbye." As soon as Greasy Sae, leaves I hear voices outside the door. Then a knock.

Gale walks in. This is not the kind of "clear" I hoped for. He's gonna win over my heart and make it even harder to choose "whoever I can't survive without".

"Hey, Catnip."

"Gale," I nod,"what are you doing here?"

"Apologizing. I was being so immature about Prim and the bombs."

"You didn't kill her, Gale. Coin did. And she paid for it." I don't have the guts to say that he was the one who made the bombs in the first place. I'm still mad at him, I just don't know what for. I know he really didn't kill Prim. Is it because he made me look bad when talking to Peeta? I don't know. I can't put my finger on it.

"I just can't help but feel guilty," Gale whispers.

"Come on, let's sit down." I lead him to the couch. He stops on the way staring at the table that I kissed him on. Great, it's harder to choose already.

We talk for a while about his job, what happened after my trial, if I've been hunting(he was surprised to hear me say no). We were finally back to our normal selves for about an hour or two.

"Someone is going to visit you soon." Gale says with a grin as he walks out the door. Oh, well.

Greasy Sae comes back shortly after he leaves. Had we really been talking for six hours? It's hard to believe.

"Lamb stew tonight," Sae brings in a big pot, and sets it down on the table. She must've cooked it bedore she came over.

I walk over to the kitchen table and Sae serves me a huge bowl of the savory stew.

After just one taste of the soup, I am immediately transported back to the war when Peeta gave me that can of lamb stew with plums. Oh, I miss the boy with the bread.

…

I fall sleep late at night, midnight maybe? I can't tell. I haven't looked at a clock in days. I can usually tell the time because Greasy Sae comes at 9:00, noon, and 7:00 for my meals.

I have a weird and slightly terrifying dream. I am seemingly dead. All of the friends come and shovel dirt on my body. I try and scream out to them, tell them I'm still alive, but it's no use. No sound come out of my mouth. I watch as my loved ones and friends shovel dirt on me and pay their respects. Mom, Peeta, Gale, Finnick, Annie, Johanna(surprisingly), and many more. I wake with a start screaming for my dad to run from the mines.

To my horror, the shoveling sounds do not stop. I run outside to see who's there.

There I see him. In the flesh. The boy with the bread.

He is planting scraggly bushes in the ground. Roses. I want to curse at him, but then I see they aren't just rooses. They're primroses.

He sees me, and says,"For her,"

"Thank you." I reply. He slightly frowns as her looks at me. My hair, my clothes, my skin. I haven't showered in weeks. I feel defensive and run into the house. I peel of my clothes and put them in the fire to burn. I take long shower, making sure to get all of the grit of my body, and wash all of the grease out of my hair. It takes me at least half an hour to brush out my hair and braid my hair down my back. When I enter my room I smell it.

I look to the vase, and see a white rose. President Snow's rose used to cover up the smell of blood from his mouth. When did her put it here? He died over a month ago, how is it still living? I stop wondering, it's probably one of those things that the Capital does to make something live forever. Thank you, Snow. It was an honor making you laugh to death.

I grab the vase in my hands. There isn't any water in it surprisingly, so I take it downstairs and burn the roses. Smash the vase.

I go back upstairs and find something clean to wear from before the Quarter Quell. My old hunting jacket and crago pants are still sitting in the closet.

Then I hear the TV blaring.

It's a message from Paylor. She says that there has been recent criminal activity in and around the Districts.

The broadcast cuts out right after a bullet slices through Paylor's head.

 **I really hope you like this chapter! It's a bit longer as well. The next chapter will be longer, too. Please review. I love to hear your opinions, good or bad. Also, give me some suggestions!**


	5. Chapter 5

**I'm really sorry I couldn't get this chapter up sooner! I will have the next one up around Wednesday. Please tell me your thoughts! It is in Peeta's point of view again.**

I try and comprehend what just happened but I can't. It's like a math equation. I was never very good at math.

Just minutes later, the TV turns back on with another broadcast. A woman who looks like she's about 21 shows up on the screen.

"Hello, I would like to inform you of the death of former President Paylor. She was assassinated by the criminal who has been committing crimes around Panem. We were unable to see who the culprit was because he or she was wearing a mask. We are guessing they were from District 12 because of the eyes and skin."

Great, District 12 is going to be crawling with reporters.

"We have already sent investigators to District 12 to search houses for any possible clues about the criminal."

What did I tell you?

"But, let's get on with it. I have big news! I will be your new president! My name is President Francesca. I am Snow's sister. If he had any brains at all he wouldn't have let the 'system' of peace be brought down by some simple berries."

Great it's my fault.

"So in honor of the Capital's first victory against the districts, and to let everyone know that the Capital is still the most powerful..."

Oh no, oh no, oh no. This is not happening. Please, I'm begging you.

"I am going to..."

Please don't. Please.

"Restart the beloved Hunger Games!" she finishes.

"Why?" I say aloud.

"But there will be new rules. Things that make the system of peace, harder to bring down. No sponsors. If you really are fit for living, you can live without help. No coaches. Same reasoning. There will only be 12 tributes, one girl or boy from each district. The age limits are now ten to twenty. And, finally, there will be no tesserae. Reaping day will be every May 8th as usual. Francesca, out."

May 8th. That's tomorrow. I just have one question. But that gets answered as soon as the TV turns on again.

"Oh, and previous victors can still get reaped. Goodbye." Francesca says with a ferocious smile.

What? This can't be happening. Could I go back into the games? I'm only nineteen. Katniss is eighteen. At least we can't both be killed.

The door is thrown open, and Katniss runs in.

"Please tell me you saw that broadcast. We need to go! They're already coming to investigate, plus Annie just called me saying the victors from her district were captured and sent to District 13. We need to help them."

"Okay, I'll be right back." I run upstairs and grab a few things that I can't go without. The parachute my cut medicine came in, a picture of my family, and a bag of flour. I stuff them all in a bag, and go downstairs.

"They're here!" Katniss says frantically.

"Let's go out the back way, it'll be quicker. Then, we can sneak around to the train station."

"Sounds good," Katniss kisses me, "For good luck. Hurry let's go."

I lead Katniss to the back door and we hurry out. Just as we close the door, Peacekeepers come storming through the door.

"Katniss, there are bound to be guards at the train station,"

"We'll wing it," Katniss reassures me.

We keep running towards the train station. It turns out I'm right, there are too many Peacekeepers to count.

"Just keep walking and we'll sneak around them," Katniss says, obviously reading my thoughts.

"Are you sure this will work?" I ask.

"No, but I'm think it will."

We do as Katniss says, and manage to sneak around them and get into the station. We buy to train tickets to District 13 and wait in the waiting room for about half an hour before our train pulls into the station.

"Let's go," I say to Katniss, and we hop aboard the train.

We find an empty room, and put our stuff down in it. We finally get a little bit of time to relax. We don't talk, we just stay where we are and enjoy each other's company.

...

We finally arrive in District 13 in about forty-five minutes, since it isn't very far away.

But, now we have to find a way to get in without being spotted, which will be hard because there is only one way in.

Katniss says we should distract the guards by throwing something away in the woods to make them at least look or (what we want them to do)walk away.

I pick up a huge rock and throw it in a huge pile of sticks we made and run to where Katniss is, on the other side of the woods. My heavy prosthetic should make loud thumps on the ground like a human refugee.

Thankfully the plan works, all of the guards walk away to go see what made the sound and we are able to get in.

I have to rely on Katniss' memory of District 13 since I only lived there for a little bit. We need to find the prison.

"Peeta, I've already told you, there isn't a prison,"

"Oh," I say unencouraged.

"The best place we could check is the hospital." she says. That's where they kept me when I was insane. I guess that could work.

Katniss leads me down endless hallways, twists and turns, and dead ends. We dodge guards on the way and make eye contact with no one. After about an hour, Katniss gives up. We are lost.

"We could ask someone," I suggest.

"Are you crazy?" Katniss whisper shouts.

"I guess so," I say. But, I don't give up on my idea. I want to ask someone, but I'm afraid of getting caught. If this is where Francesca is keeping the other tributes, then anyone can be a threat, since they are her citizens.

After another fifteen minutes, we hear a scream.

"Annie," I say.

"What?"

"That was Annie. I know her scream from anywhere."

"Where did it come from?" Katniss asks.

"You are the one with the superhuman ear, don't ask me."

"I'm guessing the left," Katniss turns to the left, and sure enough, there is the hospital. Otherwise known as, the tribute prison. Also heavily guarded. We quickly turn back around the corner.

"What are we going to do?" Katniss asks.

"Make another distraction. Go down the hallway some and scream. Maybe they'll go then. Afterwards we'll turn a corner so they can't see us."

"Okay, I hope the odds are in our favor."

It turns out they are. It's either these guards are very stupid, or the odds are in our favor. We break into the hospital.

But once we turn a corner, we see President Francesca.

"I thought I would be seeing you soon. It's such an honor. But, sneaking around is strictly off limits!"

Those guards must be very stupid, because the odds are definitely not in our favor.

 **Please tell me what you think! Good or bad, all opinions are accepted. Please follow and favorite!**


	6. Chapter 6

**Sorry this one took a while to post. I had major computer issues and couldn't get to it for a week :(!I've decided I'm going to try to post one chapter every two days. Please review! I love to hear your opinions!**

I'm slammed into a hospital room which was reconfigured to be like a jail cell. Alone. I'm told Peeta is in the room next to me, but who cares anyway, I'm still alone.

I'm forced to wear the drab clothes we had to wear back after 12 was destroyed. We get to have meals with the other prisoners at 10:00 in the morning for breakfast, noon for lunch, and 7:00 at night for dinner. I need to form a plan with Peeta and the other tributes to escape and capture Francesca, but I can only do that during mealtimes.

I hear knocking on the wall from next door. Peeta's room. I knock back to let him know that I'm there. How are we going to communicate like this?

Peeta knocks again. I think he just wants to know I'm there. I knock again. That's it for the knocking.

The clock reads 11:48. In just twelve minutes, guards will storm in and bring me to the cafeteria, which will be empty. From what I remember, all of the regular mealtimes are one hour before ours.

I go over to the sink and mirror and wash my face and hair. After about five minutes of rinsing the hand soap out of my hair, I take the hand towel and squeeze the water from it.

Finally the guards take my hands and put them behind my back while leading me to the cafeteria. I walk up to the cooks and they hand me a tray of very small portions. They seem to recognize me.

"I would give you more but we only have so much food. Once the citizens leave we can only give the prisoners leftovers." says a girl who looks about seventeen years old.

There is a cup of soup, only half filled; a small scoop of mashed potatoes, with a couple drops of gravy on top; and a couple pieces of wild turkey. I thank the cooks and walk off to sit with the other tributes.

"What's up, Brainless? You got captured,too? I thought you were smarter than _that_."

"Thanks, Johanna," I say, looking down at my pitiful plate of food.

"We've gotta get out of here." says Peeta.

"I second that," Beetee responds.

"But, how?" I say.

"Why don't we just run away right now. I mean there aren't any guards here." says Johanna.

"Are you blind, Johanna?" I ask. I point to the guards behind her. She looks back.

"Oh,"

"Why don't we cause a distraction, so the guards will leave and we can make a run for it."

"Peeta, you're wearing out that idea. There is an elevator by the bathrooms, we can go to the highest level and try to get out there. We'll need to get new clothes, possibly to look like a guard. If we don't we'll definitely get caught. Plus we need to be quick or they'll notice we're gone before we can leave."

"Sounds like a plan," says Johanna. But, then we run into another issue. There are so many tributes, I don't think we can get them all out. There are at least four tables of tributes, and it will be extremely noticeable if everyone had to use the bathroom and disappeared all at once. As much I hate to, we're going to have to leave many tributes behind.

"We'll only be able to get ourselves out of here, there are way too many tributes."

"Good point, Katniss," Annie peeps.

"We all live in the South wing, right?" I ask.

"Yes," Peeta responds.

"We can pretend there was a plumbing issue and weren't able to get to a bathroom until breakfast. It will have to happen at breakfast because it will be more believable that we couldn't hold it in for much longer. Then we can make an escape." I explain.

"How will we get the guard's uniforms?" Enobaria asks. We shift our heads toward her. When did she get here?

"Why were you eavesdropping on us? This is personal information!" Johanna shouts.

"No, wait. She makes a good point. How will we get the guard's uniforms?" Peeta remarks.

"And not just you live in the South wing. There are other people there, too. Like me. Wouldn't they all have to go?" Enobaria asks again. She's much smarter than she looks.

"We only need two people to have guards uniforms. They can be escorting us outdoors for something." I say.

"That doesn't solve the bathroom problem. There are more than just us in the South wing, Brainless." Johanna states.

"We'll just have to play it by ear," I say, unsure.

"I know how to get the uniforms," Johanna says, "I'll go into the bathroom and scream. A guard has to come. I'll just knock him out and get his uniform."

"That's a pretty good idea. Then change into it, and motion for us to come. We'll come over, and you can 'escort' us outside." Beetee adds.

"Perfect. Tomorrow at breakfast?" I ask. Everyone nods in assent.

* * *

I wake up, surprisingly I had no nightmares. I get ready to carry out our plan. I wash my hair once more, and braid it down my back. It's only 8:00, it'll dry by then. I use the bathroom for real because I may not be able to use a real toilet for a while. We'll have to walk back to District 12, which thankfully isn't as far as 7 or 4, but it is still pretty far.

I hear a knock on the wall. Not this again, it was so awkward last time. I don't respond, and pretend like I'm asleep in bed, which pretty soon becomes true.

I am awoken by a guard who slams open my door and yells at me to wake up. He grabs my hands and pulls them behind my back, leading me to the cafeteria. I walk to the lunch line.

"Good morning, Katniss," says the cook. I don't respond and just walk over to my table.

"Is everyone here?" Beetee asks.

"Yes," responds Johanna, "when I'm done taking out that guard, I'll do District 12's viral hand signal."

Johanna gets up from the table and walks in the bathroom. I think she actually went because I hear the toilet flush. Then the scream comes. One of the guards runs into the bathroom. I hear a groan. Johanna opens the door and motions for us to come to the elevator and puts her helmet on. We all rush to the bathroom. A guard runs after us.

"What do you guys want?" he says in a harsh tone.

"Plumbing issues in the South wing," Peeta says quickly as if he really had to go.

"Fine," says the guard.

We all rush into the elevator, with Johanna as our escort, and zoom to the highest floor. We run outdoors and sprint towards the woods. We eventually find flatland, and find that it is District 12. That took a lot faster than I thought.

We say our goodbyes to the other tributes and head back home.

We are finally back to the comforts of home.


End file.
